Ginrai Dies!!

« Transformers: Victory ep 26 »
All the leaves are brown/And the Prime is gray...
"Ginrai Dies!!" ジンライ死す!! () (Jinrai Shisu!!)
Production company	Takara, Toei
Airdate	26 September 1989
Writer	Hiroyuki Hoshiyama
Director	Takao Yoshizawa
Animation studio	Toei
Continuity	Japanese Generation 1 cartoon continuity

Wounded beyond repair, God Ginrai lies at death's door, only to discover that hope exists in the form of a reconstruction process developed by Star Saber.

Synopsis

"I give up! Don't shoot!"
"He's giving up! Shoot him!"

With Star Saber and Blacker injured and God Ginrai fatally wounded, the Decepticons exploit the Autobots' loss of manpower by successfully ransacking a solar power station, and attacking the New Cheyenne Airport fuel depot in North America. While the Multiforce and Rescue Team head to the airport, the injured Star Saber is forced to enter the battle at the solar base with Laster and Braver, despite being barely able to stand. After Star Saber departs, the recuperating Blacker decides to go into action alongside the Multiforce and Rescues.

Meanwhile, in the Shuttle Base's intensive care room, expert Autobot scientists and medics Perceptor, Wheeljack and Minerva have been called in to tend to God Ginrai, who has been paralyzed from the neck down. Hallucinating, he recalls the time that Star Saber told him he had been offered the role of Supreme Commander, and his vow to help his friend out, even at the cost of his life.

"If you were half the ambulance Ratchet was, you could fit me inside!"

At the New Cheyenne Airport, Galaxy Shuttle arrives and air-drops the Autobots over the heads of the Dinoforce below. Blacker attempts to transform in mid-air, but his injuries prevent him and he crash-lands roughly. Pīpō attempts to administer first aid, but Blacker refuses, and the battle begins to rage.

At the solar power station, Deathsaurus and Leozack watch as copious amounts of energy are loaded into the Thunder Arrow. Star Saber, Laster, and Braver soon come soaring into view, but as soon as they hit the ground, Star Saber buckles and collapses, and the two Brainmasters have to shield him from Breastforce fire. Determined to stop Deathsaurus, Star Saber struggles on.

"With my latest invention, there's only a 20% chance your head will explode!"

Back in the Shuttle Base, a regretful Perceptor informs God Ginrai that there is nothing they can do for him. However, the scientist explains that despite the irreparable damage to his body, his internal systems are functional and could be transplanted into a new body, but that he would no longer truly be "God Ginrai" if this process were to be performed. God Ginrai is at first complacent in his situation, and willing to die without regret, but when he asks for a further explanation, Perceptor suddenly back-pedals and tells him to forget it. Before Perceptor can stop him, Wheeljack blurts out that there is a pre-existing design that they can use to reconstruct his body. Perceptor silences him before he can say any more, but Ginrai now demands to know the full story.

As the battle continues to rage at the solar power station, Deathsaurus again unleashes his Living-Metal-Destroying Cannon against the weakened Star Saber. In the midst of the fight, Jan contacts Star Saber to let him know that Ginrai wishes to speak with him right away. Although fearing the worst, Star Saber is unwilling to leave the battlefield until Braver tells him to go, realizing that Ginrai would not make such a request of the Supreme Commander unless he had to. Star Saber speeds back to the Shuttle Base, where he is enraged to discover that Perceptor and Wheeljack have told Ginrai about a design he created for a personal power-enhancement system. Ginrai requests that Star Saber permit his body to be reconstructed according to this design, but Star Saber is appalled, wholly unwilling to use his friend's body in such a manner. Both Star Saber and Jan try to change Ginrai's mind, knowing that the process first requires the cessation of his life functions, and that his subsequent rebirth will mean that disappearance of the being they know, but the Godmaster is resolute.

"Hey, Wheeljack, where'd you get all this equipment?"
"Salvaged it from Unicron. Why?"
"Uh-oh."

Back on the two battlefields, things are not going well for the Autobots. At the airport, the Dinoforce escape with energy in tow, leaving Blacker and the Multiforce badly injured. At the solar base, Laster and Braver have likewise been bested, and Deathsaurus cackles over his victory as the Thunder Arrow departs with a full load of energy. The wounded Autobots limp back to the Shuttle Base, arriving just in time to witness the beginning of God Ginrai's reconstruction. As the Godmaster's body is lowered into a recessed chamber and a transparent shield lowers into place above him, Jan bangs his fists on the shield and cries out to Ginrai. Minerva is forced to lift him to safety, and the fatal switch is thrown, as the process begins, and God Ginrai... dies...

Featured characters

(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)

Quotes

"Are they so desperate they send the wounded into battle?"

—Deathsaurus after Star Saber transforms and collapses in pain.

"Don't take it the wrong way. You're only done for as God Ginrai."
"What do you mean?"
"If you were a human, your heart and internal organs would still be functional. So that leaves us with one last option. But you will no longer be the same God Ginrai."
"You don't need to console me."

—Perceptor offers God Ginrai one last ray of hope.

"Don't give up. This only means a part of you will cease to exist."
"But what does that mean?"
"Let me give you an example. When a man dies, his vital organs still function for a while. Well, apart from his brain, that is. That means, all one needs is a new brain that will work."
"You're just trying to console me."

—Perceptor is somewhat less successful in the Omni Productions dub's take on the same scene.

Notes

Animation and technical errors

• Wheeljack's shoulder cannon is colored red in a shot of him and Minerva, and occasionally missing altogether.

Continuity errors

• Wheeljack, of course, died in The Transformers: The Movie, but here he is, fit and healthy. This is another one of those oddities that results from the movie not reaching Japan until after Victory aired, and the writers and animators being unaware that the character was supposed to be dead. But hey, maybe he was resurrected by whatever managed to bring the planet Mars back from being blown to smithereens.
  • 25 years later this was finally explained by Hirofumi Ichikawa in his manga "Controverse" and an entry of the Facebook version of Ask Vector Prime. Ichikawa's material explained that Japanese cartoon Wheeljack had indeed died and was subsequently replaced by his dimension-hopping counterpart from a closely-related alternate timeline.

Continuity notes

• Blacker was wounded back in "Crisis! Ambush in the Desert".
• Star Saber and Ginrai suffered their injuries in "A Deadly Battle".
• Remember that this Minerva is the wholly robotic transtector which came to life in "A Battle... and Then...".

Trivia

• Rather than begin with a preview of the episode itself, this installment of Victory begins with a recap of the previous episode.
• For some reason, this episode refrains from actually naming its three medical guest-stars (with Perceptor simply called "the doctor"), although Perceptor and Wheeljack are both listed by name in the credits. Both are voiced by different actors than those that played them in Fight! Super Robot Lifeform Transformers; Minerva does not speak.

Foreign localization

English

• Title: "Farewell, Optimus Prime" (Omni Productions dub)
• Original airdate: November 10, 1991

• Talk of civilian casualties is tactfully removed.
• Ginrai's voice is strained even during his flashback.
• Jan tries to get someone to tell Star Saber and co to return to base, rather than wanting to go there and help.
• When Perceptor tells Wheeljack and Minerva that the next few minutes are vital, they both respond with "Right!" and they both have male voices.

Home video releases

DVD

2003 — Transformers: Victory — DVD Box 02 (Pioneer LDC) — Japanese audio only.
2006 — The Takara Collection Vol 3 — Transformers: Victory (Metrodome)
2007 — Transformers — The Complete Takara Collection (Metrodome)
2008 — The Transformers: Victory (Madman Entertainment) — Optional Omni dub.
2009 — The Transformers: Japan Generation 1 — Complete Collection (Madman Entertainment) — Optional Omni dub.
2012 — Transformers: The Japanese Collection (Shout! Factory)
2012 — Transformers Japanese Collection: Victory (Shout! Factory)